


one of the same

by dabblingwithwords



Category: Naruto
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Dorks in Love, Falling In Love, Found Family, Happy Ending, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Multi, Mutual Pining, Not Naruto Epilogue Compliant, Post Chapter 698, Protective Uchiha Sasuke, Romance, Sasuke and Naruto low key adopt a kid, Sasuke has one arm, Uchiha Sasuke-centric, i tend to write things dark, not detailed, rating may go up though
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-15
Updated: 2019-10-15
Packaged: 2020-12-16 16:04:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,210
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21038930
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dabblingwithwords/pseuds/dabblingwithwords
Summary: sasuke undoes the latch and cracks the door. there’s a girl staring up at him with sharingan as red as his own.





	one of the same

It's started to rain; a soft misting that isn't harsh– but regardless of how gentle the falling water tries to be it still feels like needles when it hits Sasuke’s skin.

His left side is numb.

The right feels like it is too, thanks to the rain.

Naruto is barely conscious, and Sasuke wants to reach for him. He realizes, with a jolt, that that is no longer possible. His mind hasn’t caught up yet.

He wants to move his left arm. He wants to twist his fingers between Naruto’s, feel the rough calluses on his skin. Sasuke knows what Naruto’s violence feels like. He finds himself mourning that he’s never allowed himself to remember what Naruto’s gentleness is like too.

If Sasuke had to guess, he would equate it to this rain. Gentle, encompassing, but still, somehow, deceptively sharp.

His next breath is a rattle.

When he turns his head again Naruto’s watching him.

“How about now, teme?” he rasps.

(_The blood on his teeth stains his lips a darker red. His hair is covered in dirt, so much of it that the blonde hair looks brown_).

Sasuke doesn’t know.

He just aches.

+

It’s a punishment.

He thinks he deserves it.

Sakura regards him carefully, her hands hovering over Naruto’s wound. She glances at him– short and quick, and her mouth pinches down at the corners.

He thinks he understands.

Or maybe he’s just tired.

He can tell she is too.

+

Konoha tastes like ash.

It burns Sasuke’s tongue when he speaks, when he eats, when he breathes. It’s tar and it’s black and it’s filling his lungs, carefully, with each inhalation. He knew coming back to the village, as a criminal on trial, wouldn’t be easy.

But nothing about his life is easy. And in some kind of sick, masochistic mindset, Sasuke keeps it that way.

The trail is staggering. It goes for a month and Sasuke barely remembers any of it. People in the streets regard him with both distrust and envy. He did help save the world, after all. There’s some small respect he’s gained from that.

It counts for something.

And it’s the one thing that saves him, though it doesn’t pardon him entirely. The council is old, and shriveling, and Sasuke often wonders what would happen to them if they were to step outside, if the sun’s rays would land on their paper skin.

He thinks of this when they decide his fate.

And then he thinks of other things that remind him of the sun. Blonde hair. Blue eyes. Scarred cheeks. Red copper lips.

“Uchiha Sasuke,” one of them says, small eyes narrowed but warm, “remember why you are able to walk freely. Konoha welcome’s you home.”

Sasuke doesn’t correct them, even though a part of him, a bitter old part, wants to.

(_He doesn’t have a home. He had one, when he was eight, when he was weak, when he was naïve. He had a home, with a mother and a father and a brother. He had hallways that smelled like Kayuragi. He had a bed that felt like his_.)

Sasuke’s been lost for so long he doesn’t remember what it’s like to feel found.

+

He doesn’t live in Konoha.

His home is rudimentary and into the mountain slopes, surrounded by trees and foliage and carrying no noises from the village down below. It’s three rooms, each holding the barest of necessities.

His bedroom is underground, and he doesn’t like to think much about why that is. Orochimaru held him below the earth for years, and while the insane Senin hadn’t provided a comfortable or homey presence Sasuke had found ease in the corridors under the dirt.

Enemies usually attack from the above, or intrude at ground level– he’d be hidden beneath, if anyone came looking for him.

The other rooms are a kitchen and a bathroom, and that’s all he’s needed. Why clutter it up further?

He’s built the structure so that he never has to see the mountains with the Hokage’s faces. He’s built it so that he doesn’t feel watched.

He’s had enough of that in his eighteen years of life, and he’s tired of it now.

+

The rules for Sasuke to live in the Land of Fire are simple:

  1. Check in with the Hokage every four months.
  2. Psychological evaluations until cleared for combat. 
  3. No killing.

He expected worse. 

+

The banging on his front door wakes him up just as the sun is beginning to yawn gold over the tops of the trees.

Sasuke has lived here for three months now. There’s a scruffy orange cat that’s begun to sit on the windowsill in his kitchen. He leaves it a bowl of milk with some scraps of fish every morning before the sun has fully risen.

Today he’s overslept.

He thinks (_hopes_) that whoever is at the front door tires out. He knows (_of course he knows_) that they won’t. There’s only one person in the Village of the Leaves who would visit him this early, get through his seals without effort, and make that much noise.

Sasuke isn’t, despite what people believe, a morning person.

That’s all–

“_Oi_! Teme! I know you’re in there! Open up!”

Sasuke’s head hurts. His body hurts. His _patience_ hurts.

He’d trained for hours yesterday, just for something to do to occupy his time. Usually he’d seek out Naruto but the idiot had been in and out of Tsunade’s office all day. He’s never talked to Sasuke about what they discuss and that’s how Sasuke knows they talk about him.

His legs ache.

Maybe he pushed himself a little too hard.

“I’m gonna break down this door on the count of ten!”

Gods.

Sasuke groans but stands. He makes his way to the front door and swings it open just as Naruto is beginning to yell:

“One–“

He slams his hand over Naruto’s mouth. To his satisfaction Naruto just narrows his eyes.

“Shut up,” Sasuke snaps, stepping back and heading towards his kitchen.

He hears Naruto enter, closing the door and kicking off his shoes.

It’s started to rain outside. A light misting, but enough that it’s made Naruto’s hair stick up, made his skin gleam.

Sasuke needs tea.

Naruto is dressed in light canvas pants and a thin top and jacket. He–

Maybe sake would be better.

“You just woke up,” Naruto says, walking in like he owns the place and taking off his jacket.

Sasuke spares him a withering look over his shoulder as Naruto just tosses the article of clothing somewhere on the floor. He knew Naruto wouldn’t hang it up, just like he knows he will.

“Observant as always,” Sasuke says drily, filling the kettle and setting it to boil. “Is that how you passed your Jonin exam? Observation?”

“Just drink your tea so you stop being an ass,” Naruto says but he’s grinning– wide and boyish. “And I _did_ pass.”

Sasuke turns away so Naruto can’t see the softening of his features.

“Hn,” he says.

It doesn’t deter Naruto. It never does.

“I get a vest and everything! Ya know Kakashi still made me take the exam? You’d think saving the entire Shinobi world would be good enough.”

Sasuke’s lips ticked into a half smile. He lets it lessen as he pours hot tea into two ceramic mugs. He doesn’t need to ask Naruto how he likes it, he knows by now.

Naruto has walked into the kitchen, leaning against the counter and watching Sasuke with a gaze way too awake for how groggy Sasuke still feels.

“Did you get an assignment?” Sasuke asks curling his fingers around the mug and letting the heat seep into the sore muscles of his hand.

Naruto just drinks it. He burns his mouth and tongue every time. Sasuke’s stopped worrying over it.

Naruto pouts, the same expression he had as a child, and he dutifully follows Sasuke into the meager sitting room.

The rain is stronger now and it hits the windows in sharp taps, like nails on glass.

“No,” he sighs, eyes roving upward as he stretches out on Sasuke’s couch, gets comfortable, and Sasuke stares at the length of him, almost taken aback for a moment by how much time has passed and how long they’ve known each other.

He remembers when Naruto was short and stocky.

Remembers when Naruto was fifteen and lanky.

Now Naruto is long lines, a sharp jaw, bright eyes and broad shoulders. He’s grown into himself, and the war has helped shape it.

Sasuke gets stuck staring at a white scar on Naruto’s left knuckle, standing out in clear contrast against his darker skin.

The rain continues its noise, its _tap tap tap_–

“I know when you’re not listening to me, bastard,” Naruto says and Sasuke hides his own surprise by drinking his too hot tea.

“Amazing that you think I ever listen to you,” Sasuke returns.

Naruto’s grin is crooked. His canines are sharper than others– the evidence of the fox has always fascinated Sasuke.

“Wanna hear about this weird dream I had?” Naruto asks after a moment of silence.

Sasuke gets comfortable.

“Tell me about it,” he says.

Naruto does.

He listens. 

+

Naruto stays late most days.

Three nights out of the week he crashes on Sasuke’s couch and Sasuke wakes in the night to cover him with a blanket.

Neither man comments on this.

(_It’s too dangerous to draw attention to things like that_).

With Naruto comes Sakura, who brings Sasuke fresh dumplings and Takoyaki, her hair smelling like jasmine scented oils.

Sasuke is still confused on where they stand. He can see her get nervous around him, like she’s falling back on old habits, on the old way they used to be because trying to move forward with this unfamiliar terrain is a lot more intimidating.

She’s strong willed, with a fierce temper and no nonsense attitude and Sasuke finds that he has more respect for her now than he ever did.

She sometimes accompanies Naruto and sometimes comes by herself, but he sees her often enough to notice when she gets a haircut four months into Sasuke living in the trees.

“Oh,” she says when he notices, “I keep it short now. It’s easier.”

She smiles, carefully but genuine, and Sasuke shows her these herbs he’d found just to watch her eyes light up as all her medical ninjutsu absorbs the new specimens. It’s the first time they’ve ever really done this– no animosity, no tears, just the two of them.

Just– kids, with nothing else attached.

+

Sakura’s visits are different than Naruto’s.

Naruto is bursts of energy. He sizzles the air around him like lightning, makes Sasuke alert and hyperaware. He challenges Sasuke, makes Sasuke think but doesn’t give him time to get too deep into his own head. He makes Sasuke’s heart beat fast, makes him feel warm and alive.

Naruto is the rush before a fall with the knowledge that you’ll survive it.

Sakura is solid but not overwhelming. She makes him think. She asks him questions that always leave him slightly frazzled and exposed. They can sit in silence together without the fear of awkwardness.

He still tries to apologize to her sometimes, usually when he’s had too much sake and Sakura has to pry the bottle from his hand.

“It’s okay,” she tells him, eyes drifting to where his left sleeve dangles; empty, “just never again.”

+

Kakashi comes with the cat.

The moment Sasuke swings open the window, a plate of milk in hand, he freezes. The cat is perched on Kakashi’s shoulder, her tail swishing around the side of his neck.

Kakashi looks down at the milk and the fish scraps.

“I hope you don’t usually feed this to your guests,” he says. “It smells… fishy.”

Sasuke closes the window on him.

+

Sasuke still travels.

He still disappears for months, but this time, when he comes back, Naruto is waiting for him at the gate with the dopiest smile.

It’s– Sasuke could get used to this.

And, eventually, leaving doesn’t feel so pressing as it had in the past. Eventually, he’s more excited to return than he is to walk away.

He understands the irony.

+

When a timid knock sounds at his door in the deep pits of night a year has passed.

Sasuke believes, for an instant, that it’s Naruto, which is why he’s at his front door so quickly he barely processes himself moving.

He does stop, then, his hand hovering over the latch, because Naruto doesn’t bother to knock anymore and Sasuke’s stopped expecting him to.

The person on the other side of this door doesn’t feel like Naruto’s chakra because it _isn’t_ Naruto’s chakra.

Naruto’s very presence is live wire warmth. Whoever is on the other side of the three-inch wood has a core that’s gentle and subdued, a chakra similar to that of a child.

He’s hesitated for too long, and the next knock startles him. His eyes swirl red and he undoes the latch and cracks the door.

There’s a girl staring up at him with eyes that look like his.

“I’m lost,” she says, her whole body trembling but Sasuke can’t hear her voice when she’s looking at him through Sharingan as red as his own.

**Author's Note:**

> just. stop me now.


End file.
